Russian runner Tatyana Tomashova could be stripped of her 2012 Olympic 1500m silver medal in a doping case, furthering the complicated story of a race already significantly impacted by disqualifications.
Pending appeals, that could put American Shannon Rowbury, already upgraded to fourth place, in line for a historic bronze medal.
The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) announced Tuesday that an arbiter imposed a 10-year ban on Tomashova, plus the disqualification of all of her results from June 21, 2012, to Jan. 3, 2015, in a case involving retesting of out-of-competition drug test samples from June 21, 2012 and July 17, 2012.
Tomashova originally finished fourth in the London Olympic 1500m final on Aug. 10, 2012.
The original gold and silver medalists — Asli Cakir Alptekin and Gamze Bulut of Turkiye — were retroactively disqualified for doping in 2015 and 2017, respectively.
Maryam Yusuf Jamal of Bahrain was then upgraded from bronze to gold, Tomashova was upgraded from fourth place to silver and Ethiopian Abeba Aregawi was upgraded from fifth place to bronze.
Tomashova, now 49 years old, last competed in 2016. She was previously banned for more than two years in 2008 for tampering with the drug-testing process by swapping urine samples.
CAS decisions can typically be appealed strictly on limited procedural grounds to the Swiss Federal Tribunal.
If there is no successful appeal from Tomashova, the IOC could upgrade Aregawi from bronze to silver and Rowbury from fourth place to bronze.
Aregawi received her reallocated bronze medal in a ceremony at the Paris Olympics on Aug. 9.
Rowbury initially finished sixth in the 2012 Olympic final, then was upgraded to fourth after the disqualification of the runners from Turkiye.
If upgraded again, Rowbury would become, retroactively, the first U.S. woman to win an Olympic 1500m medal. Jenny Simpson won 1500m bronze at the 2016 Rio Games.
Original 2012 Olympic women’s 1500m final results
1. Asli Cakir Alptekin (TUR) -- 4:10.23 (DQ, doping)
2. Gamze Bulut (TUR) -- 4:10.40 (DQ, doping)
3. Maryam Yusuf Jamal (BRN) -- 4:10.74
4. Tatyana Tomashova (RUS) -- 4:10.90 (pending DQ, doping)
5. Abeba Aregawi (ETH) -- 4:11.03
6. Shannon Rowbury (USA) -- 4:11.26
7. Natallia Kareiva (BLR) -- 4:11.58 (DQ, doping)
8. Lucia Klocova (SVK) -- 4:12.64
9. Ekaterina Kostetskaya (RUS) -- 4:12.90 (DQ, doping)
10. Lisa Dobriskey (GBR) -- 4:13.02
11. Laura Weightman (GBR) -- 4:15.60
12. Hellen Obiri (KEN) -- 4:16.57
DNF. Morgan Uceny (USA)